This time I'm REALLY leaving!!

Okay, this feels like de ja vu...but here goes. I've got my ticket! I'm leaving September 13th at 4:300 in the afternoon for Santa Cruz, via Dallas, Miami, and La Paz. It will be a long trip, but I'm so excited that it's really going to happen!! It's happening really fast, I'm kind of scrambling trying to make sure I get everything taken care of...I'm sure I'll forget something important. Oh well.

I also managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Siloam this weekend. It was very last minute...I decided Friday at noon that I was going to go, and I got to Siloam by 5pm that evening. I was able to see lots of dear friends, though not everyone I'm sorry to say.

The weekend started with a Hard Core concert (my ears are still ringing) and concluded with me singing a solo in church...something I never expected to do in my life! I'm not a singer by any stretch of the imagination, and my last solo was actually a duet with Dido in my car. But Brian, who preached this morning, wanted to use 1 John 4:7-8 as his scripture passage and asked if I knew the song to it. Stupid me didn't think to lie, (and I guess that wouldn't have been an appropriate response anyway) and anyway I didn't think he was serious. But, sure enough, halfway through the sermon there he comes down the stairs and hands me a microphone. Thankfully lots of other people knew the song and helped me out. Then he promptly leads me to the front of the church and calls for an impromptu prayer for my dad and my trip. Of course I bawled my eyes out as soon as they started. Honestly, it was one of the most humbling and touching experiences of my life. There I was, in all my imperfection, knowing that I cannot complete this mission on my own, and God reaches around me with the arms of my church family and gives me a hug, whispering that He will be my rock and my strength, even when I am at my weakest. It was amazing.

So I guess I'm ready. As ready as I ever be. Seriously, can you ever be completely ready for an experience like this? I think the best I can hope for is to rest in the knowledge that I have no control whatsoever, but God knows exactly what will happen and how He will use me. So yeah, I'm ready. And so excited.